The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-08-18
sHERMAn's CHANCES.
The Ohio Bloody-Shirt Apostle Acting n
his Own Jockey.

The Ohio Bloody-shirt Apostle Acting ~
| his Own Jockey.
That which you would have well
done do yourself. John Sherman is
through with lukewarm and blunder-
Ing deputies. For the third time he
proposes to enter a National conven-
Son as a candidate for the Presidential
nomination, and it is under his own
commanding eye that a resolution.
which he had previously scanned and
approved. proclaiming hearty and cor
dial support of his ambition. is passed
by convention of Ohio Republicans.
He is thus formally, aggressively and
personally in the race. There is no
shabby pretense of diffidence which
is not felt The man boldly seeks the
office. Such self-assertion is not
without its endorsements, but Sher-
man can find excuses for the
direct if the less modest method
in the menacing attitude of his
enemies among the Republicans of
Ohio. Under an inspiration that may
be guessed, they propose to dis
credit Sherman in his own State, there
by crippling him before the country.
He resolved to meet the assault in per-
son, and has the satisfaction of signal
if not complete success. If the cam
paign upon which he will now
enter in Ohio shall result in the
election of Foraker. Sherman will be-
come distinctly Blaine's most formida-
bic competitor for the nomination in
1888. If Foraker be defeated Sherman's
candidacy will practically cease, for,
having forced the issue of his own in
dorsement into a campaign which or
dinarily would be free of such compli-
cation, he applies test to his candi-
dacy which his party will interpret
against him if he tail.
1t is now with Sherman as it was
with Blaine in 1876. The conspicuity
of his position draws upon him the con-
centrated fire of all proponents of other
candidates. A hint of the opposition
in store for him is seen in the prelimi-
naries of the convention which in his
own interest he felt it his duty to at
tend. The Blaine journals had COM
menced to belittle him. Consumed
by an ambition which he could
not wholly conceal, Foraker was
secretly his enemy. Sherman's per-
sonal victory in the convention will be
misrepresented. Animadversions will
be made upon his possession of n lar ge
fortune. His record in the Treasury
Department., at one time the subject
of Congressional investigation, will be
maHciously reviewed. With less cause,
but with equal bitterness, the party
journals that mastered the art of vitu-
peration in the pursuit of Blaine will
now in the Blaine interest assail Sher-
man. The way of his ambition is be-
set with pitfalls constructed by the
enemies his ambition raises up. In
the headlong assault upon him I'M
friendly organs will not stop to consid-
er that if perchance he should succeed
they will be compelled by the very
fact of their party servitude to stultify
themselves by Endorsement as cordial
as attack has been bitter. Such sit
uation would not be novel, however.
Many of them, out-Pistoling Pistol,
ate the Blaine leek with utter uncon-
seriousness of their moral grotesque-
ness.
Less adroit, audacious and shifting
than Blaine, Sherman has finer moral
fiber and greater mental solidity. Not
an ideal candidate by any means, he is
more creditable if less popular than
Blaine. He fights vigorously for the
Southern negro who is unassailed and,
unmindful of Madison Wells and '76,
when he himself was visiting states
man at New Orleans, cries Justify for a
free ballot and fair count. Never
having set squadron in the field, he
is devotedly attached to battle flags
which he never captured and never
saw. Having in his day rewarded with
public place every scoundrel concerned
in the Louisiana infamy, through the
successful operation of which he be-
came Secretary of the Treasury, he is
an ardent advocate of Civil-Service re-
form. And with all the intensity pos
sible to temperament devoid of ardor
he is against the National Administra-
ton which, upon occasion, he can de-
nounce in good set terms lacking no
element of insincerity of statement.
Mr.. Sherman enters the race under
suspicious circumstances. This time
he will be his own jockey. And ne will
ride to Win,-Chica1o Herald.